


Waiting In The Wings

by RobinLorin



Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Temeraire Fusion, Bisexual Alexander Hamilton, Gen, Interspecies Relationship(s), Platonic Soulmates, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 07:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5618638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinLorin/pseuds/RobinLorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How does a dragon, orphan, son of a dragon and a<br/>Dragon, hatched in the middle of a<br/>Forgotten nest in the Caribbean by providence<br/>Un-captained, in squalor<br/>Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting In The Wings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [simplyirenic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyirenic/gifts).



New York City in the late 1780s was a spectacle of noise and sound. Carriages rolled down streets broken by construction crews as roads were widened for draconian access; food vendors and chimney sweeps alike called out to advertise their services; fire bells tolled across town; livestock were hurried across the cobblestones; and from the harbor the deep, unsubtle boom of voices in giant throats betrayed the presence of dragons in the banking district.

Just north of the city proper, in the wide expanse of yard within the walls of Fort Nipinichsen, a brown-speckled dragon cleared its throat thoughtfully and moved to better catch the late morning sunlight.

“Cross out that last sentence,” Alexander said. He stretched his wings, revealing a faint sheen of purple as the sunlight washed over his scales. “‘From such a parade’... Hmm. ‘From such a parade of constitutional powers, in the representatives and head of this confederacy’...”

Lieutenant Laurens scribbled frantically.

“That’s ‘representatives’, with two t’s,” Alexander said helpfully, peering over Laurens’ head at the long piece of wood upon which the essay was being drafted in large letters.

Laurens grumbled as he went back and fixed the error. “It’s only the first pass, Alexander. I’m sure it will be much changed anyway, after Madison has had a go at it.”

“Still, I’d rather not give that curmudgeon a reason to dislodge entire sentences on the poor excuse that they’re misspelled. Can you believe the audacity, Laurens?”

“Mmm,” said Laurens, who believed, at least, in Alexander's ability to expound upon such audacity at length. “What comes next, Alexander?”

A loud flap of wings and the calling-ho of aviators broke the relative quiet.

“I see you’re still haranguing your crew about your heady ideas, Alexander!”

The black dragon that had just set down stretched his wings and fixed Alexander and Laurens with an amused stare. Crewmen slid over his back, adjusting and loosening the contraption of nets and leather that had held them secure.

“Burr. Sir,” Alexander said, politely seething. “If you had ever written a solid piece of legislature in your life, you might know the importance of dictating correctly.”

“Why try to dictate when you’re already working at turning our democracy into a dictatorship?” Burr said loftily. He stretched his neck in a show of nonchalance. “I'm sure I only have to wait for an opportunity to arise in which I might play my hand right and dash all your overworked prose to pieces."

“Why, you smirking lizard--”

Laurens gladly took the chance to stretch his writing hand as the two dragons bickered above him.

Captain Bartow strolled over, keeping an eye on her dragon and Alexander. “Hullo, poor chap,” she said to Laurens. “Has that chatterbrain still got you writing those papers?”

“We’re on the nineteenth, now,” said Laurens. “I can only hope Madison and Captain Jay visit soon so they can argue amongst themselves and give me a break before we write another twoscore.”

“We’re all praying for you,” Bartow said solemnly. “May God see it happen before your arm falls off.”

A crowd of voices hailed the captain as the aviators in the mess came out to investigate the commotion. Captain Bartow clapped Laurens on the shoulder. “Good luck,” she said with a grin, and turned away to greet the others.

Laurens sighed.

“Theodosia!” Captain Schuyler exclaimed. She welcomed Captain Bartow with a handshake. “I should have known it was you the minute I heard Alexander go off. Only Burr can get him into such a tizzy.”

“Perhaps we should have kept flying,” Captain Bartow said drily. “Only we had to pause on account of bringing messages from the General -- oh, nothing too drastic,” she added when Eliza’s brow pinched. All in the clearing remembered what a message from the General had meant only a few years ago: imminent bloodshed and exhaustion and death. “I’ve just got to pop in and have a chat with the queen, you know.”

“We’ll be glad to have you for supper,” Eliza said. “You’ll have to catch me up on all the news from upstate.”

“I’ve got better than that -- you’ll never guess what Hercules Mulligan is up to now--”

They both turned, the crews falling into a quieter rumble of noise, as Admiral Montour strode into the landing clearing. Well-known amongst aviators as Queen Catherine, she was an Iroquois matriarch who commanded respect. Her aviator's buckskin jacket, cut in the latest French fashion, was striped with award-markings of battles won in the Revolution.

“Bartow.” Montour nodded at Theodosia. “Do come in. And what’s this?” She directed her attention to the dragons with a scowl. Despite their enormous size relative to the admiral, both dragons ceased their dispute and shifted guiltily.

“We’re only having a conversation,” said Alexander.

“You two are nearly as infamous rivals as the President and Pushmataha,” Montour said. “Come; you will give all the corps a show if you continue this nonsense here.”

The admiral shooed the entertained, but weary, troops back to the longhouse. Eliza stayed behind to soothe Alexander; out of the corner of her eye she saw Captain Bartow leading Burr to another clearing, presumably to calm her dragon as well.

Alexander submitted to Eliza’s petting. “Eliza,” he said. “Aviators may not duel, mayn’t they?”

“The law bars it,” Eliza agreed warily.

Alexander hummed low in his throat. “But dragons are not aviators,” he said.

“That is true, I supp-- Oh, no,” Eliza said quickly. “You are not dueling anyone. Least of all another dragon!”

“It wouldn’t have to be a proper duel,” Alexander said earnestly. “Dragons don’t need guns, you know; we could simply settle the matter another way.” He looked entirely too shifty as he said this.

Eliza sputtered. “It’s one thing to chase after all the dragons indiscriminately,” she said, face flaming, “even if you don’t think I know about it! I had to suffer through Colonel Washington explaining indecent attraction in dragons while her dragon debated whether sod--” she glanced around -- “whether _inversion_ is unChristian and illegal for dragons as well as men.”

“I _am_ a man,” said Alexander uncaringly. “And I do not believe it should be illegal for human men, either. It’s quite nice.”

“That is one thing,” Eliza continued, ignoring him as best she could, “but I will not have you teasing Burr into a -- a mating!”

“That isn’t what I meant at all,” said Alexander indignantly. “I was only suggesting that we could fight a small battle, you know, with our claws and teeth and everything. But your idea sounds preferable.”

“Absolutely not,” Eliza said firmly.

Alexander sighed low in his chest and hunched over, looking as sullen as was possible for a 40-foot Leptoae to look. “If you insist.”

* * *

 

“Betsey,” whispered Alexander, nosing at Elizabeth’s shoulder. She woke with a jerk, and nearly overbalanced and fell off Alexander’s claw.

“Eliza,” the dragon whispered again. At the edge of the fort, one of the midwingmen roused at the near-thunder of voice; and then recognizing only Alexander’s insatiable need to talk, rolled over with a sigh and returned to sleep.

“I am awake, Alexander,” said Eliza. “Is something wrong?” She reached a hand up to Alexander’s nose, automatically leaning toward his warmth.

“No, nothing is wrong,” said Alexander. He half-opened and closed his wings in a shuffling manner. “There is a matter which persists at my consciousness. Sleep is quite unreachable.”

“Is it quite important, my dear?”

“Yes,” Alexander said decisively. “Eliza, do you believe we fell in love at first sight?”

Eliza blinked against the dark, wishing that she were more awake.

“Where on earth did you hear that phrase?” she asked.

“Captain Theodosia was describing the latest opera to us,” said Alexander. His talons scratched the ground in sudden agitation; Eliza slipped off and managed to land on her feet. “Oh! I beg your pardon,” said Alexander, stilling again. “But did you know that the French don’t even allow dragons to go to the opera? Lafayette told me after Captain Theodosia had finished. I don’t believe it’s fair at all. Why, even uncouth Chrapkowskoida like Burr can see a play in New York--”

“Alexander, you had a question about true love,” Eliza reminded him gently.

Alexander peered down at her. “No, no, not true love. That is a ridiculous distinction. Any feeling which is felt must be true; so love with is felt, in any degree, must be true.”

“My mistake,” Eliza murmured.

Alexander sighed, almost… wistfully, she thought. “Love at first sight.” He lowered his neck to be on level with his captain. “Oh, Eliza, do you think we had it?”

“Had it?” Eliza repeated. “Oh, my love. We have always had it.”

Alexander’s eyes brightened. “Really? I knew I loved you right away, but I couldn’t be sure you felt the same. I understand that love at first sight is meant to be reciprocated if it is to be meaningful. Unless you are reciting one of that Celestial’s Chinese tragedies,” he added with a scoff.  

Eliza hummed and stroked Alexander’s scales.

She still remembered the moment when the egg had finally broken and the strange, small mess had spilled out onto the freshly waxed ballroom floor. The odd mottled color of the creature that stretched and expanded and suddenly unfolded into a winged infant, staring around the room at the fascinated and horrified faces of society.

She still remembered the way her heart had pounded with one, decisive _boom_ , when the dragon’s head had swung around and its dark, beautiful eyes had locked with hers.

At that moment she had known that she would never again be so welcome at a soirée like that one, and that she would abandon all the prospects and planned futures she had depended on.

And she had known, too, that she would never regret taking a step forward and reaching out a hand to her new future.

Now her eighteen-ton future was wiggling happily as he curled around her.

“Oh, I _am_ pleased to hear it,” said Alexander. “I thought you may have resented me -- which would be quite alright if you had, for I did disrupt your life quite suddenly and, as I am told, I was meant to go to a Dominican general.”

“My dear,” Eliza interrupted gently. “I am luckier than any general who has won a hundred battles, for I have you by my side.” She ran a hand over his smooth nose and watched with fondness as his eyes fluttered shut. “That has always been enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> ... If you're coming here from the _Hamilton_ fandom, I highly suggest you explore the _Temeraire_ series. It starts with _His Majesty's Dragon_. You won't regret it ;D
> 
> Captain Theodosia is Theodosia senior; her daughter, also named Theodosia (she lets her dragon choose the name), will come along in a few years and will eventually take over as Burr's captain. 
> 
> Why is Burr's name Burr but Hamilton is Alexander? Because it sounded better that way, that's why. 
> 
> [Catherine Montour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Montour) was a real woman and an awesome historical figure. She was the matriarch of the people who lived in a stretch of land that was eventually colonized and named Schuyler County. Yes, those Schuylers. You can imagine that, in this history, things were a bit different. She and Eliza probably have a history, since the Schuylers would have rented from the Iroquois instead of forcing them off their land. Everything changes when the indigenous people have dragons! 
> 
> On that note, I tried to make broad strokes about the altered history. One major assumption was that with dragons, different Native American tribes were able to deal in cultural and economic trade before the white immigrants arrived, and were also able to mount a defense against colonization. Nipinichsen was a real area, where Yonkers now stands; in this version of the world the native people kept their names and integrated the English idea of a defensive fort into the dragon covert. But I'm not a expert in Native American history in the least, so I edged in some alterations and left the rest of interpretation and imagination.
> 
> Obviously since Tecumseh is in the White House in the book canon (and for the sake of my sanity and my poor math skills I'm just placing him there for as many terms as it takes to align the _Hamilton_ timeline with the _Temeraire_ novels), the relative ranks of the _Hamilton_ characters would be shifted around. Washington was a powerful commander in the army and is now a respected political Senator or such, but Tecumseh is the President and [Pushmataha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushmataha) is his right-hand man, though also his political opponent (it's complicated). 
> 
> I took a page out of Novik's book and created dragon species from butterfly genera. Burr is a Chrapkowskoida; the name comes from the _Papilio chrapkowskoides_ , a beautiful black butterfly with bright blue or pale grey markings on its wings, native to various African countries. Alexander is a Leptoae, which comes from the _Leptotes cassius_ or Cassius Blue, a butterfly native to Dominica.


End file.
